posted by: HewNaven on February 2, 2018 12:58pm

With the state’s first protected bike lanes running right along Long Wharf Drive

Protected?! By whose measure? I watched a car slalom in between the plastic dividers (into the ‘protected’ area nearly avoiding a cyclist - me) to get around a slow vehicle in front of them. Plastic bollards do not PROTECT anyone!

posted by: Esbey on February 2, 2018 2:38pm

Gotta say, better looking than I expected. I always thought the harbor shoreline was hopeless, forever ruined by I-95. Maybe that’s not right.

Maybe the city could plant *a lot* of trees to muffle the highway? Would that work?

posted by: __quinnchionn__ on February 2, 2018 3:27pm

I’m wondering if there’s going to be more cycle-tracks or protected bike lanes further down Sargent Drive and also further up Water Street going towards Downtown. These newly completed cycle-tracks in the Long Wharf area goes nowhere as far as going from one part of town to another. There needs to be more connection for bicyclists to get around the city as much as cars do. Maybe putting bike lanes or continuing to add more cycle-track on East Street going up towards East Rock would help with the bike traffic a little more. Other than that, the boathouse looks really nice and I can’t wait to visit in the summer when it opens. In the future it’s going to be good to see when the whole entire area gets to be redeveloped. Certainly looking forward to it.

posted by: wendy1 on February 2, 2018 4:05pm

I was told this was a PUBLIC building——no membership or fee requirements. This was built with tax payer $$ and we deserve admission. There is no reason the public cannot walk and look inside. I didn’t pay $6000 for a boat so the parents of poor local kids in public school would be excluded…and how about all the folks who picnic on the waterfront in the summer to cool off. The shoreline and sidewalk and biketrail belong to us the people and so should the boathouse. I dont plan to row the boat I donated to John P. I just want to be able to walk around and enjoy the public building.

posted by: Esbey on February 2, 2018 4:32pm

Wendy1, I am pretty sure that you misread the article. The reference is to boat “storage space [that] will be available to those who pay for membership,” as well as to some fee and/or membership based activities. The main space is public. It is not weird to charge fees for boat storage or rowing lessons (or whatever they are planning.) One point is that some fees can then generate revenue to pay for free lessons for school kids and so forth.

posted by: Ryn111 on February 2, 2018 5:10pm

This is a lot of money for event-goers and rowers but hopefully the space has broader appeal. It may spark further interest/development/improvement along this corridor if the city takes the initiative.

What happened to the idea of a Frying Pan like barge bar along the waterfront? I know this idea was presented to the city years ago and they tossed it into the bureaucratic abyss. Could that resurface?!

posted by: RobotShlomo on February 2, 2018 8:24pm

The thing took TWENTY YEARS to build, it better “wow”. All this time nobody still could give me a straight answer as to what it’s actually going to do.

posted by: Kevin McCarthy on February 2, 2018 8:51pm

Esbey, planting trees would reduce noise, and have other benefits. But their impact should not be overstated. A dense belt of mature trees 50 feet wide on level ground would reduce noise levels about five decibels. This is a noticeable reduction. But I-95 is elevated at this site, substantially reducing the impact of the trees. And presumably DOT or the city would plant saplings - transplanting mature trees is way more expensive. The saplings would take a couple of decades to mature.

posted by: Esbey on February 2, 2018 10:45pm

Kevin, thanks that’s interesting.

posted by: RemyZ on February 4, 2018 10:15am

Although the accompanying graphics show their name, it’s too bad that the article doesn’t give credit to Gregg, Weis & Gardner, Architects for a fantastic design.

posted by: opin1 on February 4, 2018 11:31am

Looks wonderful. Just to confirm, people will be allowed to bring their own kayaks/canoes/paddleboards/etc and launch there right? If so there would need to be a place to offload in the parking area.

A coffee shop inside the boathouse would also be nice (or at least adjacent to the building) so people could get a coffee and enjoy the views from within the boat house.